-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- When Billy Beane , the subject of the 2004 book ` Moneyball ' , took over as the general manager of the Oakland Athletics in the late 1990s , he revolutionized the way baseball teams were run .

At a time when other managers and scouts relied on their experience to identify promising new players , Beane successfully used ` sabermetrics ' -- the statistical analysis of baseball -- to see value in players other teams had passed over , turning the Athletics into a team capable of competing with the biggest names in the sport .

Now industry watchers say a similar statistics revolution is going on in the business world .

Technological advances are giving rise to huge amounts of data -- about consumers , supply chains and world events -- that businesses can use to make better decisions and gain a competitive edge .

It 's called ` big data analytics ' , and those who ignore it are being warned they risk being left behind .

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The rise of big data

`` Big data is the new oil , '' says Andy Cutler , director of strategy at SAS , a consulting firm specializing in big data analytics .

`` The folks who are going to get good value are those who are going to be able to refine it and turn it into useful products . ''

Firms like Amazon and Netflix are at the forefront of this revolution , gathering the huge amounts of data generated by their customers and analyzing it to predict what customers will want to buy or watch in the future .

This goes beyond personalized purchase suggestions ; Amazon is currently working on technology that will deliver products to you before you 've even ordered them , or at least keep them in warehouses nearby in anticipation , says Phil Simon , author of `` Too Big to Ignore : The Business Case for Big Data . ''

Netflix has effectively built its entire business model on analyzing customer data , he says .

`` Netflix track every view , every click , all in an attempt to understand what their customers want . ''

The development of smartphone technologies and near-field communication means analyzing customer data is no longer limited to the online world .

Tailored buying experience

Arne Strauss , analytics professor at the Warwick Business School , says retailers are developing ways of monitoring customers as they enter physical stores , allowing them to optimize store layout and even change on-shelf promotions depending on which customer is walking by .

But predicting customer behavior is just one application .

Major banks including HSBC use big data to monitor and predict fraud -- both by cardholders and staff -- by setting up data-mining systems that collect patterns and look for anomalies .

The investment bank Morgan Stanley uses statistical models to measure the impact market events have on the bank in real time .

Improving the efficiency of large logistical operations is another use .

Delivery firm UPS spends more than $ 1bn a year gathering data from its fleet of trucks to ensure the most efficient delivery routes .

Meanwhile major supermarkets in the UK are turning to big data analytics to help them provide same-day grocery delivery services -- a huge logistical challenge involving predicting what customers are likely to want before they order it , and ensuring coordinated delivery times that protect supermarkets ' already-thin profit margins .

Consultants and academics say businesses who do n't jump on the big data bandwagon are at risk of falling behind .

But there are challenges .

Too much information ?

Some in the industry fear a backlash from consumers uncomfortable with the amount of individual data being gathered about them , stifling development in some areas .

The speed of the technological development has also created a skills gap . Professor Thierry Chaussalet , who runs a business intelligence and analytics masters course at the University of Westminster in London , says many businesses simply do n't understand the big data technology now available and what it has to offer .

Stephen Mills , an associate partner in big data analytics at IBM , agrees there needs to be a culture change .

`` The technology is the easy bit , '' he says .

`` The hard part is how to change the culture and the business processes to make use of that new source of data . ''

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Big data deemed as the ` new oil ' according to experts

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Businesses who ignore the power of big data may fall behind

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Amazon and Netflix are leading the big data revolution , analyzing customer data to predict what they 'll want to buy in the future